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The group was floated on the stock
market in the summer of 2010 but its shares have more than halved in
value in recent months amid fears it will struggle to compete with
supermarket deliveries. It also faces increased competition from
Waitrose, whose products make up a large part of its offer.

But chief financial officer Andrew
Bracey said he was optimistic about the company's prospects and believes
it will remain a strong performer in the sector.

The company continues to divide the
City's opinion. Rod Salmon, an analyst at Numis, said he remains a
believer in the concept and added that the Christmas trading highlighted
the group's full potential. Philip Dorgan, of Panmure Gordon, said the
figures were better than he had expected but this was partly due to
favourable comparisons with last year, which was disrupted by heavy
snowfall.

He added: 'Moving forward, we expect
that the competitive environment will get tougher and because we don't
see Ocado as anything special, we don't think that it should be valued
as such.'

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Ocado benefits from festive food deliveries with sales up by nearly a quarter